1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein generally relate to holding structure of a microphone and an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conference system for conducting a remote conference with a remote location via a communication network such as the Internet is popular. In such a conference system, for example, images or voices of participants or the like of the remote conference are acquired by terminal devices for conference, converted into digital data, and sent to a terminal device of a communication destination. The terminal device of the communication destination displays the image of the participant that is received and outputs the voice of the participant. Such processes are performed bi-directionally, and thereby, the participants of the remote conference can conduct a video conference with the remote location in a state near an actual conference.
For example, when a speaker and a microphone are installed in a small-sized chassis of a terminal device used in such a conference system, there is a problem that a vibration of the speaker due to the sound output propagates to the chassis of the terminal device, and furthermore the vibration propagates from the chassis to the microphone. When the terminal device has an echo canceller, in a usual case, even if a voice reproduced from a speaker is input into a microphone, according to the function of the echo canceller, an echo component is removed. However, when the microphone picks up a vibration of the chassis, as described above, a distorted reproduction sound from the speaker is input to the microphone. That is, a path for transmitting voice from the speaker to the microphone is non-linear, and an echo may not be removed sufficiently.
As a technique for suppressing such propagation of a vibration of the chassis to the microphone, a technique of holding the microphone in a floating state is known. For example, a holding structure for microphone is known, in which a microphone is held in a floating state using a magnetic force to block an environmental vibration or noise (See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-312094). Moreover, an electronic device in which a microphone is elastically supported inside a cabinet, a rear side of the microphone is covered with a back cover formed of a rubber-like elastic body, and the back cover is fixed to the cabinet using a fixation screw is known (See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-304263). Furthermore, an attachment mechanism for microphone having an elastic member for covering a side face of a microphone with an approximately cylindrical shape and a retention member for retaining the microphone by engaging with the elastic member is known (See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-299173).